HOF064: TRAN Quoc Tuy

Tran Quoc Tuy’s young family of four left Vietnam by boat with 83 passengers on August 20, 1979. He, his wife and 2 children witnessed many tragedies during their perilous journey to freedom. Thai pirates attacked their boat several times. One passenger lost his life during the attacks.

Workers from an Esso Oil Platform managed by Australian employees eventually rescued the refugees. They were brought to a refugee camp in the vicinity of Singapore. During the family’s stay in Singapore, they requested asylum from Canadian Immigration officials who approved their application.

The family arrived in Montreal on February 1, 1980. The congregation of the St-Remi Catholic Church sponsored them. In time, the family grew. The couple welcomed five more children. Tran Quoc Tuy was able to care for his family by working at different jobs: as a strawberry picker and a Canadair employee. During that period, he pursued his education. He obtained a Master’s degree in Naval Engineering from l’ École Polytechnique de l’Université de Sherbrooke in southern Québec.

He eventually secured a job as a professor in a Montreal CEGEP in the 1990’s. Today, he is now retired after a long career in the teaching profession.

Note to Researchers

A consent form was signed by each of the interviewees whose videos are posted here on the website. They have each consented to making the video available to the public and they have consented to the use of the contents of their videos by the Hearts of Freedom project researchers. Consent is not available to external researchers to quote or publish from it. Researchers interested in the subject have the opportunity to view a documentary film, Passage to Freedom which has been completed and is available through a distributor https://www.mcintyre.ca/ Researchers from the project are in the process of completing a full length book based on the interviews. Once this book is available researchers will have the opportunity to review it and to refer to it for research purposes.